Tammy Mitchell Photography» creative gift giving

southern california children’s photographer: i {shoot} kids

Tammy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:15:57 +0000

lol! I always have to laugh when I’m talking about shooting my kids, or other people’s. It just sounds so funny!! I have been agonizing over this decision for quite some time now and I have just decided that right now, this is the best decision for our family. As many of you know, I am tackling homeschooling my 3rd grader this coming year. I am VERY excited about it, but also very worried about the time committment required to do a knock-out job. Combine that with being a mom, CEO of the house, cleaning lady, taxi driver, personal chef, running a couple of growing businesses and a husband with a schedule that is completely wild and unpredictable and life is crazy!!

I started in this business shooting kids and it’s really what I love to do…where my heart is….so I am returning to my roots. I am excited about the possibilites of refocusing just on the little ones in our lives. I love to create a scene and let them play. My philosophy and style are very photojournalistic, provide a fun environment and let them be.

As a result of these changes I will be making a few changes to pricing and packages too, so if you are planning on scheduling a shoot, please make sure to check those out. Pricing and Session Info

Throughout the month of August I will be running a special for children’s shoots…$75 for the sitting fee. Sitting fee includes 1 8×10. Spots will go quickly, so email me at tammy@tammymitchellphotography.com if you are interested.

Along with regular shoots I will be offering a few “themed” mini shoots throughout the year where I will set up a great scene and the kids will be invited to come and play. I am SUPER excited about these!!! It will allow me to combine my love of design and party planning with my love of photography!! Stay tuned for details of the first theme shoot coming in Sept. It will be a back to school shoot…details and session information/sign-ups coming soon!!

Here’s a little taste of what’s to come. A “fake birthday” I had the pleasure of creating for a client last week…watch for these shots in your local craft store and even on HSN and QVC!!

have a great day!
-t

{Picture Perfect} Online Digital Photography Class: Session #3 Now Enrolling starts May 1st

Tammy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:32:18 +0000

I can’t even believe how much fun I am having with these classes. It is SO fun to see how everyone is learning through their pictures and the questions and emails that I get. I feel like I am making great new friends from all over the world!! It is so fun to share a common interest like photography and have a place to chat about it!

I have had several people ask and several register already, so I thought I’d let you know that if you are interested in signing up for session #3 enrollment is now open. Class will begin May 1, 2010 and run for 6 weeks. The cost is $200. I do keep class size limited so that I can answer questions in a timely manner and give the individual attention to each student.

If you’d like to join us for session #3 you can register securely through Paypal here:

This class is structured so that it is VERY flexible. The only time we have anything scheduled is Tuesday nights at 7PM PST for our weekly chat(I know, that’s right during American Idol for some of you!!! ) but if you’re not available at that time I am on the board daily to answer your questions that come up! We will cover getting to know your camera, focusing techniques, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, metering, lighting and composition. We WILL have you shooting manual and loving it by the end of this course!

I will be posting the lectures on Saturdays this session so that you have extra time on the weekends to watch and practice before the chats on Tuesdays.

A few things people are saying about the class:

“Tammy rocks! I definitely learned a lot and things I haven’t learned in other photography classes.”

“Thanks so much for doing this class. I have taken a few at the local community college and came away feeling like I should just sell this camera and pay for a good photographer every few months. Now I am actually excited to take my camera places and I’m not afraid of it anymore!! THANK YOU!!”

“I just wanted to extend another thank you for helping me to understand my camera. It felt so good to leave class knowing so much more about my camera then before I took the class.”

“You just really teach this very well…you are addicting..you are easy to learn from .”

“I just wanted to thank you for all the effort you put into making this such a great class. It was really easy to follow..leaving not too many question to be asked each week on the MB.”

have a great day!
-t

Make This: Cute Crafty Ideas for Easter

Tammy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:57:46 +0000

Andy has Friday off for his birthday (at least that’s what he thinks…actually it’s for Good Friday, but when you’re 7 it’s more fun to think it’s for your birthday! ) so I’ve been trying to come up with some fun Easter ideas todo that day. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

from Ladies Home Journal the bunny pop…if you don’t want to go through the hassle/mess of making rice krispie treats omit the first four ingredients. Pre-made rice krispie treats make these a breeze!!

Ingredients

Vegetable cooking spray
10 cups Rice Krispies® or any crisped-rice cereal
2 packages (10 oz each) marshmallows
6 tablespoons butter
1 lb semisweet chocolate, melted
1- 1/4 lbs white chocolate, melted
Red food coloring
30 popsicle sticks

Directions

1. Lightly coat a 15-by-10-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Place cereal in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; set aside. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add marshmallows. Stir until smooth. Pour over cereal and stir to combine. Spread out in prepared pan and press firmly to flatten. Let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Trim edges and cut into 30 3-by-1-1/4-inch bars. Push a popsicle stick through one narrow end of each bar.

3. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of white chocolate over tops of 15 bars. Repeat, using semisweet chocolate for remaining 15 bars. Transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes. Place a wire rack over another baking sheet. Dip the white bars in white chocolate and the semisweet bars in semisweet chocolate; place on rack, allowing excess chocolate to drip off bars. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Makes 30 pops.

4. To paint faces on bars: Add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring into remaining white chocolate and stir to combine. Using the tip of a wooden skewer or a paintbrush, dip in pink chocolate, then paint ears and nose on bars. Use semisweet chocolate and white chocolate to make eyes. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. (Can be made ahead. Store in an airtight container, in a single layer, in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Serve cold or at room temperature.)

5. Per semisweet chocolate bar: 280 calories, 12.5 g total fat, 7.5 g sat fat, 123 mg sodium, 44 g carbs, 17 mg calcium, 7 mg chol, 2 g protein, 2 g fiber

6. Per white chocolate bar: 310 calories, 13.5 g total fat, 9 g sat fat, 152 mg sodium, 42 g carbs, 51 mg calcium, 12 mg chol, 3 g protein, 1 g fiber

OK, how adorable is this??? This comes from the brilliant minds over at eighteen25. If you can believe it it’s a tray from the $1 bin at my favorite place, Target, spray painted robin’s egg blue and the bunny silhouette was added. You know how I feel about silhouettes!!!

And finally, Andy came home with one of these today and I was in love. John has a REAL weakness for these things. I don’t particularly care for them, but when I saw this idea I HAD to share it because it’s pretty stinkin cute best of all there’s a free download so you can make your own! Download them here

I’ve got a few more things up my sleeve…stay tuned!

Have a great day!

-t

make this: homemade valentines

Tammy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:56:39 +0000

I’ll admit it…I LOVE valentine’s day. Not so much for the mushy romantic stuff, mor for the fun, cute stuff. It gives me a great excuse to make all kinds of cute, kinda cheesy stuff that you can get away with on a day like this.

This year my valentines have taken on a beach theme. I didn’t really plan it, I was just working around things that I had around the house. I’m fortunate in that both of my kids are at small schools with teeny classes…so I can make slightly more elaborate things without breaking the bank. I definitely wouldn’t be doing these things for a class of 35, but they are fun for the special valentines your kids may have. The other thing I love about these is that they are both great for boys. Girls are easy, because they can give things that are in primary colors and nobody thnks anything of it, but boys are hard. So much of the valentine’s stuff out there is pink and purple and mushy. I’m happy to say these are BOTH great for the little guys (and gals) in your life.

i dig u

i hit the dollar bins at michaels and found some cute shovels to make these with. Here’s what you’ll need:

-inexpensive shovels

-small clear bags of some sort

-candy(i bought cady that had wrappers that were in primary colors so they would match my shovels…something to think about. it’s a sickness…I know. )

-ribbon

-cut out heart shapes (an extra large heart punch or die cut machine of some sort works great for these!)

-alphabet stamps (or you can print on the paper with your computer before you punch out the hearts)

-a hole punch

-scissors

-tape

1. put you candy in the bags and seal. punch two holes at the top of the bag about an inch or so apart.

2. string ribbon through hole on the right

3. place candy bag in your shovel and wrap the ribbon around the back of the shovel handle.

4. pull ribbon from behind shovel handle through the hole on the left hand side ofthe candy bag to bring the ribbon together in the front so you can tie a bow.

5. cut out your hearts and stamp with “i dig u”

6. tape hearts to front of candy bag

7. hand out and enjoy!

have a ball, valentine

supplies:

-beach balls

-tags

-ribbon

-string (i used embroidery thread)

-tape

-hole punch

these are super easy! i found my beach balls at walmart for 77 cents each. my ribbon is from a giant spool at costco and the tags I made in about 5 minutes in photoshop…good news…here’s a free download of the tags for your own use!

Have a Ball

1. take beach balls out of their package and roll up. tape into place.

2. tie ribbon around balls

3. cut out your tags and punch a hole in the top

3. use the string to tie your tags around the knot in the bow to secure them to the balls.

done!

Hope you have a happy valentine’s day!!

-t

Make This: How to Make Adorable Matchbox Valentines

Tammy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:11:20 +0000

I have been saving this one for you for almost a year!! I ran across it last year just after valentines and saved these pictures to share this year just in time for valentines. They are seriously SO cute and easy. I am headed to albertsons today to grab some matchboxes (about $1.50 for 10 boxes) and make these myself.

Grab some scraps of paper and ribbon, some tape and a heart punch and you’ve got yourself some homemade valentines in minutes…

Thanks to inchmark for the cute idea!

Have a great Thursday!!

-t

Online Photography Classes: {Picture Perfect} Session 2–Now Enrolling

Tammy — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:16:58 +0000

I can’t believe that this week marks the fourth week of class!! I am having a blast and it is SO fun to see how everyone is learning through their pictures and the questions and email that I get. We have been having fun chats on the message board and I feel like I am making great new friends from all over the world!! It is so fun to share a common interest like photography and have a place to chat about it!

I have had several people ask and several register already, so I thought I’d let you know that if you are interested in signing up for session #2 enrollment is now open. Class will begin March 8, 2010 and run for 6 weeks. The cost is $200. I do keep class size limited so that I can answer questions in a timely manner and give the individual attention to each student.

If you’d like to join us for session #2 you can register securely through Paypal here:

have a great day!
-t

make this: felt crayon roll

Tammy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:29:09 +0000

i have been seeing these over at etsy and thinking how they are so cute and would be great to carry in my purse. we have a bag that we carry to church and other places where Ashley and Andy need to be quiet for extended periods of time, but the crayons always end up loose in the bottom of the bag and making a real mess. I know some of you are probably thinking, “stick them in a ziploc bag, dork!” but you probably know enough abou me by now that a ziplo bag isn’t going to cut it around here… I NEED a cute crayon roll. lol!!

Pictures and tutorial courtesey of Skip to My Lou one VERY crafty girl and blog. You will LOVE it. She has all kinds of wonderful tutorials for you, especially if you’re not a lazy seamstress like me!!!

Problem is, I’m too lazy to make all the ones I have seen until now. I found the perfect, cute, easy to make with little sewing tutorial. Since I am a fake seamstress this works out well for me.

You need three pieces of wool felt 6″ X 16 1/2 (pocket), 5″ X 16 1/2″ (outside), 5″ x 16 1/2″ (inside). Another plus about the felt from Prairie Point Junction is that the sheets are 12″ X 18″. Not only are the felt sheets at the craft store not as durable they are too small for this project. I thought about using the felt on the bolt, but again I was wanting something that would hold up to little hands and it seemed too thick.

Take the 6 X 16 1/2 piece (pocket) and fold it in half length ways. Lay it on top of the 5″ X 16 1/2 (inside) piece. Starting over 1 1/4″ from the edge stitch from top to the bottom on the pocket piece. Then continuing stitching every 1″. Back stitch at the top of each stitching line to reinforce. You will end with 1 1/4″ on the other side.

If you want the outside of your roll to have any embellishments make them now on your outside piece. It would be beautiful to use some of the felt scraps for applique or do some embroidery.

Place the pocket piece that you just sewed on top of your outside piece (wrong sides together). The pocket piece might be slightly smaller from all of the stitching of the pockets —-I just gave mine a little stretch (gently) to match everything up. Pin to keep it all in place.

On the right edge at the middle insert a 30″ piece of ribbon folded in half. Insert the folded end about 1/2 an inch.

Sew all the way around the outside 1/4″ in from the edge.

A nice blanket stitch would dress up the edge or you can use pinking shears (make sure they are for fabric and they are sharp). Be careful when you come to the ribbon you will have to do each side separately.

Note:
I doubled the pocket to make it sturdier and give the crayons extra padding to make them stay in. This seems to work well, however you could always use a 3″ X 16 1/2″ piece for the pocket. I would sew a ribbon across the top edge for extra stability before I make the pockets.

These would be cute valentines for your little ones!!
I’ll post pictures of mine when I get around to actually making it.

Have fun!!
-t

make this: valentine treat cones

Tammy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:24:51 +0000

I’ve been seeing different versions of these popping up all over the place for halloween, wedding favors, etc. so I thought I would make up a quick valentines version and tutorial for you. They are super fun looking and easy to make. Your kids would LOVE to help, and who wouldn’t love finding one of these cute cones filled to the brim with goodies hanging on their door when they wake up valentine’s morning??

Materials:

1. Paper punch I used a heart for valentines, but with the number of punches on the market, the possibilites are endless!!
2. You can use any papers ou have on hand for this craft. Vintage sheet music looks really cool for a more elegant versin. You can find it at flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales or etsy.com.
3. Ribbon
4. Glitter
5. Scissors (if you have pinking shears those would add a fun look too)
6. Clothespin or binder clip
7. White Glue (I use aleene’s tacky glue, elmer’s would work fine too I’m sure)
8. Hole Punch
9. any fun embellishments to hang from the ribbon

Directions:

1. Roll one sheet of paper into a cone shape, gradually working with it to get it to taper off to a point. Glue with a thin layer of tacky glue, using a clothespin, binder clip or paperclip to hold in place until dry.
2. Punch or cut heart shapes from coordinating paper and glue around rim or down the front seam of the paper cone. To create three dimensional look, I folded my hearts slightly in the middle so that they stuck out from the cone, Apply a thin line of glue along edge and hold in place for a few seconds until the glue begins to dry.
3. When completely dry, apply white glue to desired areas and dust with glitter. 4. Punch a hole on each side of the cone and thread ribbon through holes to hang. 5. Fill with goodies and enjoy!

Obviously you can make many different variations of this. Just think of the posibilities. How cute would these be made in the theme of your choice, hanging from the backs of chairs as place card holders. So fun!!

enjoy!!

-t

Days of giveaways: MellonMonkeys

Tammy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:21:48 +0000

Is that a cute name or what?? Well, their ties are even cuter. We attend church every Sunday and it is a time for my little guy to get dressed up. I think it’s good for kids, especially boys, to get used to dressing up at a young age…otherwise they’ll never want to do it. SO, every Sunday it’s a tie for Andy. That presents a problem sometimes. Ties for little boys always seem to have teddy bears, or sailboats, or just some other juvenile print on them that just doesn’t get me excited. When I saw these I fell in love….

(john hates that I gave him a faux hawk for these pics by the way…he keeps asking why he has a fin on his head. I LOVE it!)

Aren’t those the cutest??? You can have them custom made in a milion different fabrics and colors. FINALLY something fun and different for boys!

But wait! It gets even better!! If you have a little girl you can get MATCHING dresses to go with the ties!! How cute is that???

The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive TWO yes, you read that right, 2 ties in any size and style of you choosing. Just in time for the holidays your little guy can look too cute. You know the drill…head on over to mellonmonkeys and pick your two favorites. Let me know here in the comments which ones are your favorites. Winner will be announced MONDAY. If you FB, blog, or Tweet about the giveaway let me know for some extra entries.

Winner must contact me at tammylmitchell@cox.net within 48 hours of announcement otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
have a great day!
-t

Days of Giveaways: Eekleberries

Tammy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:56:03 +0000

and the bad blogger award goes to….ME!!! I can’t believe I missed 3 days last week!! Actually I can. I had SO much going on and MORE sickness at my house. Serioulsy, it’s been 6 weeks now and I am SO over it!!!

I know that I’ve been a bad blogger when I start getting phone calls…”are you ok? i haven’t seen you post anything in a few days…” then I know I’m loved!

So, I thought I better get ths 10 days of giveaways started with one of my favorite things…eekleberries

when I first stumbled across this…my heart fluttered a bit…

Isn’t it adorable??? It is made of the softest fine courduroy. Simply adorable. Ash couldn’t wait to put it on…

absolutely darling!! and SO well made. Fully lined and everything. I just spotted it in this cute color combo too…

You know we will soon own this version too.

Micaiah is an absolute doll to work with and she has volunteered a Jemma dress to the very lucky winner of this giveaway!!! Are you SO excited???? I am!! I wish I could win so i could get it in the next size up for next year!! lol!!

Here’s how to enter:

visit Eekleberries and check out all the cool goodies and leave Micaiah some love in the comments here. She is SO talented!!

If you FB, tweet or blog about it, stop back by here and let me know for some additional entries. Winner will be announced on FRIDAY, so check back here to see if you’re a winner. Winner must email me at tammylmitchell@cox.net to claim your prize within 48 hours of announcement otherwise another winner will be chosen. Good luck!!!

have a great day!

-t